Politicians and top officials must share blame for present chaos: Kumudesh

Sri Lanka has become a country that profits by asking its workforce to stay at at home rather than reporting to work, says President of the Association of Health Professionals, Ravi Kumudesh.

Kumudesh in a brief interview with the Sunday Island said: “The government asks public sector workers to stay home on a weekly basis. It does so because it’s profitable. This is a serious indictment on efficiency and amount of work done by the public sector workforce. This is enough to understand the plight of the state sector. With that indication, we do not need further research to understand the prevailing situation.”

Kumudesh said that not only the politicians who stole public money but also some officials in top posts in the government sector are responsible for the present plight. “Efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector is below zero. The officials too should be held responsible for that. Management deficiencies of top officials have ruined the public sector.

“The best example of this is the public health sector. It has thousands of administrative officers holding various posts managing this and that. Yet none of these managers have been able to get the bare essentials necessary to maintain the health service.

“There are some who came with MBBS degrees and grabbed administrative posts in the health sector. They may know their medicine but they are not good managers. The Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration issues circulars. Secretary to the Health Ministry does not respond.

Administrative officers down the line read the circular and make their own interpretations and act as they see fit. This leads to chaos because different sections in the health sector may act differently in response to the same circular. The workers below the administrators suffer because of this chaos and they have no morale to carry on their duties. At the end people who obtain their services suffer,” Kumudesh said.